wills



(No Mod'e1.) 3 Sheets--Sheet 1.

H. 'ILAWILLSKE J. D. KI1\IGSLA\.I\ID.v AUTOMATIC FEEDER EOE EoEsEgs'EoENAIL BLANK EINISEING MACHINES.

No.. 275,558. Patented Apr.1o,188s.

ii IIIIIIIIHII N. PETERS. Plwllimugnpher. Walhington, DA C.'

' (No Modell) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.. H. A. WILLS xv J. D. KINGSLAND.AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR HORSESHOE NAIL BLANK PINISHING MACHINES.

Patented Apr. 10,1883.

, frz Venok-s Wb'bn e3 ss es Z N. Pneus Mmmm. www n c S. m 3 n m `w G ,hA 4 M n N. e-Il- DDE s S SNM AI LU.. SM GA NL I B KL .M DN .E .J0 ww ESM L Lm 1. WR O .F AR .w HE E F ww. m o A M M 0 0 m Ty U A Patented@11.10.1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY A. WILLS AND JACOB D. KINGSLAND, OF CHICAGO, ILL., ASSIGNORS TOTHE NORTHWESTERN HORSE NAIL-COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR HORSESHOE-NAIL-BLANK-FINISHING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 275,558, dated April10, 1883.

Application filed Jnne26,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARRY A. WILLs and JACOB D. KINGSLAND, of Chicago,in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain newand uset'ul Improvements in Automatic Feeders for Horseshoe-Nail-Blank-Finishing Machines, which are fully described in the followingspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,iuwhich- Figure l v represents a plan view of a machine embodying ourimprovements Fig. 2, a detailed section on an enlarged scale, taken onthe line o o, Fig. l; Fig. 3, a detailed section on an enlarged scale,taken through the ringcarrier just in front of the nail-guide; Fig. 4,al

detailed plan, on an enlarged scale, of the lower ends of thefeed-rollers and adjacent parts; Fig. 5, a detailed section onV enlargedscale, taken on the line a: Fig. 4; Fig. 6, a front side elevation ofthemachine on the same scale l as Fig.1 Fig. 7, a transverse section of thesame, taken on the line y y, Fig. l; Fig. 8, a transverse section of thesame, taken on the line z z, Fig. 1 Fig. 9,`a plan of the feed-cylinder;and Fig. 10, a vertical section of the same, taken on the line w w, Fig.9.

Our invention relates to feeding mechanism for automatically feeding theblanks to horsenail-finishing machines, being especially adapted for usein connection with that class of machines provided with a ring-carrier,of which the machine shown in several patents heretofore granted toHarry A. Wills are examples. Heretofore the carrier of thesefinishing-machines has been fed by boys, who placed the blanks in thenotches of the carrier. This makes the work ot the finishing-machinedependent upon the attendant, and also involves a constant expense inthe payment of wages to this attendant.

Our invention is intended to provide a me: chanical or automatic feederfor the ring-carrier, so that after the blanks are dumped into a hopperor feed-cylinder they will be taken care ot' by mechanical devices,which properly deliver them into the notches of the ring-carrier of theiinishing-machine, and thus the attendant feeders are dispensed with andthe capacity of the machine somewhat increased. We will proceed todescribe in detail one l way in which we have carried out our inventionin practical form, and will then point out definitely in the claims thespecial improvements which we believe to be new and desire to protect byLetters Patent.

ing-machine is now well known, and hence we have shown in the drawingsonly such parts as are necessary to illustrate our present invenf tion,and in the description reference will be made to such parts only of thefinishing-machine as are necessary for the same purpose. A

In the drawings, A represents the main or supporting frame ot' thefinisher, on which is suitably mounted a ring-carrier, B, provided withside peripheral notches, b, for the reception of the nail -blanks andcrown ratchet notches b', by which the carrier is moved in the usualway. A ring, B', surrounds the carrier,

of the-carrier. The usual intermittentmotion is given to the carrier bymeans of a pawl, C, attached to the upper end of a lever, o, the lowerend of which is vibrated by means ot a the bedplate ot' the frame.Apawl, C', is also provided to engage with the ratchet-teeth for thepurpose ofholdingthe carrieragainst backward motion. any suitable way,and atits end, on the front side of the machine, is provided with abeveled pinion, d, the purpose of which will be presently described. Inthe drawings this shaftis shown provided at the opposite end with abandwheel, d', by which it is driven.

Two tapering rollers, E and F, are arranged in an inclined position,extending out at one Asideot' the machine, and mounted at their lowerends in suitable bearings on the main frame and at their upper ends insimilar bearings on a supplementary supporting-frame, A', standing atone side ot' thev frame A. These rollers are for the purpose ot' feedingthe blanks to the carrier. rIlle surface of one of them, E, is plain theentire length, except a short distance at the lower or smaller end, onwhich is cut a spiral thread, e, the depth of which gradually increasestoward the point, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The thread doesnot run entirely to the end of the roller; but a short head,

serving to ret-.tin the blanks within the notches l cam, c', on the mainshaft l), mounted below.

The main shaft D is driven in` The construction and operation of thefinish b c', at the extreme ciidis let't entire. Thisroller ings theselianges are shown t'our iu number,

is arranged with reference to the ring-carrier, so that at eachrevolution ot' the roller, when the end ofthe thread is on the side nextto the carrier, it will come directly opposite one ot the notches in thecarrier, which is then at rest, and holds a notch at the side otl theroller. This arrangement will be seen and readily understood from Fig.of the drawings. The roller F is plain-surfaced throughout its entirelength, and is arranged on the inside next to the carrier. At its lowerend it is cut away on one side, so as to provide a. short eccentricpin,f, at this extremity. The movement ot' the rollers is so timed thatthis pin will move away from the other roller about the time the end ofthe spiral groove is brought opposite the notch of the carrier, so as toleave an opening to permit the blank to enter the notch, as shown inFig. l ot' the drawings, while during another portion ot' its revolutionthe pin is brought 4in next to the roller E and prevents the irregulardelivery ofa blank it' accidentally one should become misplaced. rlhelower end ofthe roller F is set a little higher than the roller E, asthe latter is arranged about opposite the edge of the ring-carrier.Thisis the preferable arrangement ot' the extremities of these rollersfor securing the accurate delivery of the blanks,l butit isnotabsolutelynecessary, as there may be some change in their relationand yet averyfairoperation obtained. The rollers are set so that aslight opening will appear between them sutlcient to accommodate theblanks which are delivered upon the rollers. At their lower ends,however, they are brought nearly together, so that the space between thespiral groove and the opposite roller will only accommodate the blank,and not permit it to fall through. At their upper ends the rollers areprovided with pinions c2 and f', which en- 'gage with each other, andoutside of thelatter is a second and smaller' pinion,f2, with which alarge gear-wlieel, G, mounted on the supplementary trame, is arranged toengage, the latter being driven by a pinion, r/, on a shaft, H, which ismounted in suitable bearings at the side ot' the machine, and at itslower end is provided with a beveled pinion, h, engaging with thesimilar pinion on the driveshatt, and so receiving motion from thelatter. Through this mechanism it will be seen that a rotary movementwill be communicated to the feedrollers. lThis movement is outward fromeach other, and is timed so as to move the rollers in relation to thecarrier as described above.

Itwillolcoursebeunderstoodthatthe blanks are delivered to theieedrollers at their upper ends; but itis necessary to provide somemeans for delivering them with comparative regularity; otherwise theoperation ofthe feed-rollers will be impaired by choking. For thispurpose we employ a cylinder, l. which is provided with a series ofspiral wings or flanges, i, arranged around the inside ot' the cylinder,a-nd running from top to bottom, as shown in Figs. l and l() ofthedrawings. In the drawwhich is the number we have found producing themost satisfactory result, though a variation may be made in thisrespect. The cylinder is mounted outside ot' theiupper end of therollers, being arranged atan inclination thereto, as shown in Fig. 8ofthe drawings. At its lower end it is provided with a band-pulley, i',and near its upper end with a collar, i, which rests on small rollersI', mounted on ysuitable diverging brackets on the supplementary frame.The upper end ot' the cylinder is arranged so as to deliver the blanksjust over the edge and into a hopper. J, and arranged just above therollers. It desired, it may be provided with a lid,j, which, however,must be cnt away at the upper end, as shown in Fig. 1. ofthe drawings,to permit the blanks falling from the cylinder to enter the hopper. Aband-pulley, K, is mounted ou the shaft ot the wheel G, and from thispulley a band, lr, is run to the like pulley on` the cylinder, passingunderneath suitable guide-pulleys, l", below the cylinder, and by thismeans a suitable rotary motion is communicated to the feed-cylinder.rlhe latter is also provided with means for adjusting the angle of itsinclination, whereby the feed may be regulated, for obviously the nearerthe cylinder is brought to the horizontal position the more rapidly willthe blanks be delivered to the feed-rolls. This adjustment. may beeffected by making either the upper or lower bearings ol' the cylinderadjustable in any ordinary way, or by any other device whichl issuitable for this purpose. I

The blanks are placed in the cylinder in quantity, when, obviously, bythe rotation of' the latter, a portion of the blanks will be brought upby each spiral section, and finally delivered at the upper end into thehopper ot' the feed-rollers, in this operation the blanks slipping downthe incline ot' the iiange into the hopper as the iiange is turning awayfrom the latter, and therefore the uumberot' blanks falling into thehopper will depend upon the angle at which the ilange stands. Some oftheblanks will fall back into the cylinder, and the number ot' these willdepend upon the inclination of the latter, heilig increased as the axisof the cylinder approaches a perpendicular. The blanks falling upon thefeed-rolls will be carried down gradually, in the meantime slipping inbetween the rollers point downward and held by their heads, the spacebetween the rollers not being large enough to permit the heads to passthrough. 'lhis space is only a little greater than the thickness of theblanks, so that the latter will always hang in the rollers with theirwider faces next the surfaces ofthe former. In this position they arecarried down gradually by the rotation of the feed-rollers, reachingsuccessively the spiral groove at the lower end ot' the outer one. Eachblank, asit reaches this groove, is crowded into it by the contractionof the space between the rollers, 'so that the blanks are car- IOO IOS

IIO

IIS

ried down at a regular rate at this end of the l will be deliveredinthis position into the rollers, and -are brought regularly' one afteranother at the lower end of the spiral groove, directly opposite therespective notches of the feed-carrier. The carrier is standing at restat this moment, and the continued rotation of the threaded roller willjof course crowdi the blank into the notch opposite, into whichk it dropsby the action of the unthreadedsection at the extremity of the roller,the eccentric pin on the opposite roller movingjn proper time topermitthis action. Sometimes the blanks willbefed down too rapidly, oriusuch quantity as'not to all of them drop down'hetween the rollers; andto prevent the action of the feed being impeded in this way, we providea wire brush, L, which consists o f a'hubandradiallyarranged pieces ofwire, l, and is mounted on a shaft, Z', standing at right angles to thefeed-y rollers,. a short distance above the spiral. This brush stands sothat the ends of its wires will just enter the space between therollers. On the other end of its shaft is a band-pulley, l2, over whicha bandi, M, runs to a similar pulley, m, on the shaft H, a guide-pulley,m', being arranged to direct thevband properly'to these pulleys, whichstand at about right angles to each other. a i.

It will be seen that arotary motion is thus communicated to the brushThis movement is backward, and therefore any blanks which are fed-downirregularly by the rollers willbe pushed back by the wires of the brush,and

. kept back uiitil they finally come down in proper position. lJustbelow they brush is a short guide, N, arranged just above the openingbetween the rollers under which the heads' of the blanks must pass, andwhich serves, in connection with the brush, to fix the blanks in properposition as they are brought to the Spiral groovejust below. This guideis shown in the drawings as a loose piece, which is held Y in positionby a spring, n.

At the lowerend of therollers is another guide, n', which is mounted onthe stationary ring and projects ,back over the end of the roller E ashort distance, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, and serves as afurther deviceto insure the proper position of the blanks as they comedown to the point of`delivery.

Now, it will be seen from the above description that the blanks will belbrought d owny regularly4 by the feed-rollers and c lelivered one afterthe otherin propersuccession into thenotches of the ring-carrierbutthle'blanks of horseshoe-nails are curved, and in the ringcarrier, asthey Vare brought to the several devices for finishing, they must standwith their curves all one way, preferably with their convexsurfacesoutward,iwhich is the arrange-v Vment in the Wills finisherreferred'to above.

vIt is obvious that no provision, is 4made in the operation ofthefeed-rolls to insure the delivery of the blankslo the carrier inuniformposition. in this particular; but they will come down through thefeed-rollswiththeir.convex sides some one `way and some the other, and

notchesof the carrier. This irregularity must be corrected or the blankswill not all be prop,

erly finished by the machine. `We have devised mechanism to accomplishthis result, which we will now proceed to describe.

It will be readily understood by-those familiar with the shape ofhorseshvoe-ualsthat as the blanks hang in the carrier the points ofvthose having-their convex sides outward will be turned inward, whilethe points of the others will be turned outward. Below the ring-carrieris a guideor'switch, O, mounted on a post, .0, and extending forward, soas to catch the blanks soon after they commence their travel around withthe ring. Theforward end of this guide is, bent outward slightlyand isplaced being bent downward where it comes in contact with a ca ni, q, onthe shaft H, to which it is held by a suitable spring, q', the end ofthe lever being also providedwith a roller, q2, to relieve friction, ifdesired. Thisnlifter is underneath onen of the notches of the ring-.carrierwhenever the latter stops, buta littley outside thereof, ysothat it will be about underneath the outwardly-swinging point ot' a mis-,placed blank, which may be held in the notch lifter rests upon theinner end of a lever, Q, pivoted to the main frame, and extendingoutward at the side of the machine, its outer end IOO above. Immediatelyabove this notch in the i carrier is a a short vertical shaft, R,mounted in a post, vR. Atthe lower end of this shaft is a head, @with anotch,r,cnt across it, and at the upperl end of the shaft is a pinion,r2, which engages with a segmental rack, S, mounted on a post, s, sothat it may be oscillated back and forth.

The oscillation of the rack isfaccomplished .by means of a lever, T,pivoted to the outside of the main frame, and connected at its upperAend by a pitmamt, to the rack, while at` its `properly regulated tosecure just the required movement of the shaft, which will obviously berotated back and forth by the oscillation of the rack.V i i The upperend of theslidin g lifter is recessed slightly, as shown in Fig.2 of thedrawings, so

as to securecertainty of action, and the opera tion of this mechanism isas follows: The parts are all timed,so that assoon as the ring-carrierstops the lifter is raised, and if a misplaced blank hangs aboveit, asshown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will of course be lifted up. Thenotch in the head of the shaft above, when at rest, stands lengthwiseover the notch in the carrier iu the line of progression of the latter,

as lshown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, so that the head ofthe blank willbe carried into this notch by the operation of the lifter justdescribed, and as soon as this is accomplished the rack begins to move,thereby turning the pinion with which it engages half-way Iaround, andso turning the blank halfway around, which brings it into properposition, with its point turning inward. The lifter is at oncewithdrawn, when the blank drops back in its notch in the carrier in theproper position for further operation, and the turning head is movedback into its former position by the oscillation of the rack in theopposite direction. It will be seed, therefore, that all the blanks arebrought into proper position in the carrier before they are passed tothe finishing mechanism ordinarily used in machines of this kind.

'Ihe operation of the feeding mechanism has been fully set forth inconnection with the description above, and'need not be repeated, exceptto say that it must ofcourse be understood that all the parts are timedso as to operate relatively to each other in a manner to accomplish thesuccessive results which have been specified.

We also have shown in the drawings a short guide, U, arranged underneaththe lower end ot' the threaded feeding-roller, being fastened to theoutside but stationary ring of the tinisher, with its inner end justoutside of the notches of the ring carrier at this point and with itsouter end bent considerably outward from this line, thereby guiding allthe points of the blanks in toward the carrier and assisting in securingthe certain delivery of a blank at its proper point into the notch ofthecarrier in readiness to receive it. By this mechanism we are enabled tosuccessfully feed the blanks to the finisher automatically, and sodispense with the attendant who has heretofore been necessary for thispurpose at each machine. One person can look after several machinesprovided with these attachments.

Ve do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the specificdevices and specific construction and arrangement of devices asspecified above, for many changes may be made in these particularswithout atfectiugthe essential principles and operation of ourinvention. Even the construction of the feed-rollers may be changed, andyet the same result secured, as it is only necessary that these rollersshall be so constructed as to bring the blanks successively into properposition in front of the respective notches of the carrier, and then insome way deliver them into the notches.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a horseshoe-nail-tinishing machine, the combination of a carrierin which the blanks are suspended by their heads with a. pair oftapering feed-rollers constructed and operating to deliver the blanksinto the carrier, substantially as described.

2. In a horseshoe-nail-nishing machine, the notched ring-carrier, incombination with the tapering feedrollers E and F, the former beingprovided with a spiral groove at its lower end, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

3. In a horseshoe-nail-tinishing machine, the notched ring-carrier, incombination with the tapering feed-rollers E and F, the former providedwith a spiral groove at its lower end, running not quite to theextremity of the roller, and the latter with an eccentric pin at its eX-tremity. substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a horseshoe-nail-finishing machine, a carrier in which the blanksare suspended by their heads, in combination with a pair of taperingfeed-rollers by which the blanks are fed into the carrier, and mechanismwhereby the blanks are automatically and regularly delivered to thefeed-rollers, substantially as described.

5. The tapering feed-rollers, in combination with the inclinedfeed-cylinder provided with spiral flanges around the inside thereof,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. The feed-rollers, in combination with the inclined feed-cylinderprovided with inside spiral anges, and adjusting mechanism whereby theinclination ofthe cylinder may be changed, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

7. The tapering feed-rollers E F, in combination with the revolvingbrush, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

S. rIhe notched ring-carrier, in combination with the feed-rollers E Fand the guides above and below the lower end of the roller E,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

i). In a horseshoe-nail-finishing machine, a carrier in which the blanksare suspended by their heads, in combination with a pair of ta- IOOpering feed-rollers which deliver the blanks earn t', and notchedring-carrier, substantially the wheel G, inclined feedcylinder,band-pulas described. ley K on the shaft; of the wheel G, band 7c, 14.The feed-rollers E F, in combination with and bend-pulley on thecylinder, substantially the revolving regulating-brush L and the guideas described.

5 N, substantially as described.

15. The feed-rollersE F,in combination with HARRY A' WILLS the brush L,mounted on the shaftv l', the band- JACOB D' Km GSLAND' pulley m on theshaft H, andV the band M, subvWitnesses: stantially as described. J No.C. MAGGREGOR,

ro 16. The feed-rollers E F,in combination with G. E. FAULKNER.

